Berlin Part 2 - City Countryside Sea - Germany 2022 - 4b
Stage 4b - Berlin Part 2
Also today there is no reason to get up early. It is cooler and it drizzles, but for our today's destinations that is irrelevant.
By suburban train and metro, we go to the Classic Remise Berlin [↗]. Beautiful, old, polished cars are standing there. Yes, not only Jürgen is delighted.
After that, the Teufelsberg [↗] in Grunewald is on the agenda. Here, where in former times the Russians were bugged, now the orderly decay takes place. After the end of the cold war, the Americans had no more use for the site, and various plans to reuse it failed for different reasons. The decay began and the sprayers found an ideal area for them to let off steam.
At a certain point, there was some trouble and in the meantime, a new operating company has been found. Visitors can enter from 11 a.m. to sundown and the entrance fee is 8 Euros. But if you like graffiti, it's definitely worth it.
At the beginning of the site, there is a small exhibition on the Cold War. Quite nicely done, but not the reason why we are here. The site is huge, about 6.5 soccer fields in size. There are a lot of buildings, which are painted from the outside. Many of them can be entered. The main building has several floors that can be reached by outside stairs. Inside are artificial walls to have more space for graffiti. On the roof, the large radomes are decaying.
By the way, in the meantime, it is not allowed to spray around arbitrarily. The artists are selected and assigned to appropriate spaces. So there is always something new to see, but the new or particularly good artworks are not immediately defaced again.
We completely forget the time and thus miss our next item on the agenda - the guided tour at Radio Berlin. Never mind.
We walk through the forest back in the direction of Wilhelm Leuschner-Platz, reach a street, and orient ourselves as suddenly a car stops. The driver thought we were police officers controlling the speed and we must have given him quite a scare. Well, so much for the gray-green clothing. Don't policemen wear blue by now?
We would actually like to eat a snack now, but we can't find anything that suits us. At Wilhelm Leuschner-Platz it starts to rain and we finally decide on a pub with a few tables under a canopy. Finally, it stops raining and we get to the metro station on dry feet and return to the hotel.
The next morning, we want to go to the East Side Gallery at the old Berlin Wall, to the RAW area and also Freya wanted a boat trip. Actually, we have planned the boat trip as the final, but when we pass the pier, it is just another 30 minutes until departure. The weather is again poor, but it is not really supposed to get better. The boat is fully booked, but because of the great demand they are starting another boat and that leaves a quarter of an hour later.
The so-called bridge trip is well three hours long and leads not like most other tours only the Spree up and down, but also through the Landwehrkanal. In total it stretches over 23 km, through 3 watergates, and under more than 60 bridges. We pass Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Charlottenburg and Mitte. We hear interesting things and regret that the new Berlin architecture is so boring. Compared to other big cities, a little bit of courage wouldn't be so bad here.
After the tour, we quickly bring our jackets back to the hotel and then walk along Holzmarktstrasse and Mühlenstrasse in the direction of the Wall Museum. On the way, we pass the Holzwerkstatt, an area with small alternative eateries and stalls - quite nice.
At the East Side Gallery [↗] we are a bit disappointed. We have seen better graffiti in recent days, but in more than 30 years, the art has of course also evolved.
At the Mercedes Square in front of the Mercedes-Benz Arena, we drink something and watch guests and staff. Via Warschauer Straße we walk then to the RAW area [↗]. There is a flea market today and so it's very busy. We photograph a bit and then go back by suburban train.
Jürgen has really chosen a good place to spend the night. We are very central and get easily to all the places that we are interested in.
At half past seven we leave again. We drive to Leipziger Platz and walk from there to the Asian restaurant where we had lunch two days ago. Also today the food is good, but when we were there at noon it tasted better.
From here to the Brandenburg Gate [↗] it is not so far and so we walk. We arrive just in time for the blue hour. Of course, it's super crowded again. Jürgen sets up his tripod and takes long exposures. In the meantime, Freya is asked by a couple to take cell phone photos.
Afterwards we walk to the Bundestag, but when Jürgen wants to go with her into the dark streets to the House of Cultures, Freya goes on strike. So he only takes pictures of the Paul-Löbe-Haus [↗].
After breakfast, we walk toward the Museum Island [↗]. We just passed the Humboldt Forum, when Jürgen says he is not feeling well. He would go back to the hotel. Freya follows. If he still feels like lying in two hours, she can still go off on her own. After a cup of tea in the hotel, Jürgen falls asleep pretty quickly, wakes up again after half an hour, and after another 30 minutes we are on the road together again.
We take the subway to the main station, where we have a bite to eat nearby. Afterwards we go to the Futurium [↗], where we spend a long time. But this is really interesting and much more optimistic than the Klimahaus in Bremerhaven.
At the Italian restaurant near the Red City Hall (Rotes Rathaus) we have a drink and later dinner. Jürgen still wants to make some night photos, but somehow the energy is gone and so we stay with an evening walk.
